Snow blowers are well known in the art. They may be intended for domestic, commercial or industrial uses (see FIG. 1). Also, they may be of reverse type (see FIG. 2), and/or provided with an integrated blade (see FIG. 3), etc. Also, they may be used on a carrying vehicle (e.g. a farm tractor, see FIG. 4), an articulated loader (see FIG. 5), or on a compact motorized vehicle (see FIG. 6), provided with a three-points hitch 1, with a quick hitch 2 or any other type of hitches well known to a skilled workman, providing power to the snow blower via a transmission shaft 3 (e.g. connected to a PTO shaft), a hydraulic power 4, etc.
A roller chain 19 is generally used as an element for the transmission of power (see FIG. 7) between a side shaft 5 of the gear box 6 and the auger 7 of the snow blower 8. Important advantages of the roller chain 19 are its resistance to impact, mounting flexibility, and configuration tolerance.
It is well known in the art that to preserve the useful life of the roller chain 19, the roller chain must be well lubricated, kept under a perfect tension and prevented to be exposed to debris and/or contaminants (e.g. water, salts, sands, etc.). However, these requirements are difficult to obtain with existing snow removal devices, especially snow blowers.
Indeed, as illustrated in FIGS. 11 and 12, as an example, various styles of guards such as a front guard having a first part 12 and a second part 13, used with existing snow blowers, still allow some contaminants, such as powder snow, to pass through slots 32 and 51 and eventually some various larger openings of the guards. Contaminants according to the existing art, are evacuated by the rear guard 52, by the roller chain 19 projecting outside the contaminants. Also, with reference to FIG. 7, other contaminants (e.g. salts, sands, water, etc.) projected by the wheels 54 of the carrying vehicle while circulating on a road, may gather in the area 53 of the roller chain tensioner to thereby contaminate the same.
One of the biggest problem to be solved by the man skilled in the art is the adjustment of the tension of the roller chain 19. This tension is required to be sufficient to keep the rollers of the roller chain applied against the bottom of the teeth of the output gear 20 and the driving gear 21, to prevent a premature wear of the teeth and/or the roller chain. Also, the tension applied does not have to be excessive in order to prevent a premature elongation of the roller chain and a lost of energy.
An elongation of the roller chain 19 is a normal consequence of the use of the roller chain. However by limiting this elongation, the maintenance steps are reduced and the useful life of the roller chain, output gear and driving gear is increased. Also, when the tensioning of the roller chain is too high, the noise generated by the movement of the roller chain on the output gear and the driving gear, increases to thereby cause an irritant to the snow blower operator and nearby residents during snow removal operations.
Various systems have been developed and are still in use for applying a tension to the roller chain of a snow blower, such as a single tensioning sprocket wheel 27 (see FIG. 8), a pair of tensioning sprocket wheels 28 (see FIG. 9) mounted in tandem with a spring 22, and, in certain case, a fixed sprocket wheel 9 (see FIG. 10) can be used to deviate the roller chain of various obstacles.
FIG. 8 illustrates a simple system representing the single tensioning sprocket wheel 27 which shows the advantage of being economical. However, this simple system because of its fixed mounting, has the inconvenient that its adjustment must be made with tools. Also, this simple system does not continuously apply a tension on the roller chain. Thus, the roller chain, when worn and elongated, becomes loose and as long as the operator does not readjust the single tensioning sprocket wheel 27, the roller chain 19, the output gear 20 and the driving gear 21 will become worn quickly because the rollers are not properly applied at the bottom of teeth of the output gear 20 and the driving gear 21.
FIG. 9 illustrates the pair of tensioning sprocket wheels 28 mounted in tandem with a spring 22 which has the advantage of self-tensioning the roller chain 19 in part. However, some manual readjustments will need to be made from time to time. The advantage of this system is that the roller chain 19 is always under tension and keeps an ideal contact with the output gear 20 and the driving gear 21. The inconvenient is that the spring 22 applies an additional force on the roller chain. This additional force varies depending the compression of the spring, and this contributes to the elongation of the roller chain and/or generates additional noise, especially when the spring 22 is at its maximal adjustment position. The roller chain 19 is also be subjected to move into two opposite directions on the sprockets wheels 28 of the tensioner to thereby create an additional premature wear of the roller chain 19. Also, this system comprises several mobile parts that can be worn and consequently necessitate additional lubrication. This high number of mobile parts is hard to be perfectly aligned along the path of the roller chain, and consequently may further generates an additional risk of component damages.
FIG. 29 illustrates a tensioning system 29 for roller chain 19 that is well known to skilled workman under the trademark «Roll-Ring» and various patents such as U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,551,926 or 6,488,602 B1. Such a system is used in various industrial environment. However, it has never been used in a driving system for driving at least one auger of a snow removal device (such as a snow blower) for various reasons. This system has the advantage of applying a delicate and constant tension on the roller chain to thereby limit the level of noise and the elongation of the roller chain. However, this system is fragile and subjected to derailing when used in an environment containing contaminants. Because the «Roll Ring» 29 does not have fixation means other than the engagement of its teeth in the roller chain 19, any presence of objects or debris between the «Roll Ring» 29 and the roller chain 19 may cause a derailment of the «Roll Ring» 29.
It is known that when operating a snow blower a plurality of debris (snow, ice, etc.) are generated and may be inserted in the environment of the roller chain. More particularly, powder snow can infiltrate in the environment of the roller chain via the slots 32 and/or 51 as illustrated in FIG. 12 and create a gathering inside the parts 12 and 13 of the front guards, and powder snow may eventually solidify or even turn into ice as a result of temperature changes. All those debris, when detaching, may move in the environment of the «Roll Ring» 29 and, of course, may cause the derailing of the «Roll Ring» 29.
Therefore, there is a strong need for a solution allowing to overcome the above-mentioned problems/inconveniences.
Also, there is a strong need for a driving system that overcome at least in part the above-mentioned problems/inconveniences.
Also, there is a strong need for a snow removal device provided with such a driving system, that overcome at least in part the above-mentioned problems/inconveniences.
Also, there is a strong need for a kit and a method for the installation of the new driving system on a snow removal device, that overcome at least in part the above-mentioned problems/inconveniences.
Also, there is a strong need for a method for the manufacturing of components and/or parts of the above-mentioned driving system, that overcome at least in part the above-mentioned problems/inconveniences.
Indeed, in spite of the numerous improvements and discoveries over the years, there is still a strong need to continuously innovate and find better and/or different ways to commercialize snow blowers in a manner that is faster, simpler, more efficient, more economical, more reliable, more adjustable, more polyvalent, more adaptable, more durable, more conscientious of the environment, more washable, and/or improved.